Project information

Infuse youth cafe and club

A twice weekly youth café and club open to young people aged 11-18. It provides a safe space for young people to engage in fun activities, build friendships across social and geographical boundaries, and build relationships with the team allowing for emotional and practical support to be given.

Charity information: Future Skills Training

Need

Infuse provides young people with somewhere positive, safe and fun to go during the vital after school period where they may otherwise find themselves hanging around and being tempted or pressured into negative behaviours and activities. The relationships we build with the young people allow us to challenge any negative behaviour from within. We strongly discourage any form of bullying, bad language and disrespect and expect them to develop positive behaviour both inside and outside of Infuse

Solution

Infuse allows for personal and social development through the integration that exists here. We foster a positive and accepting atmosphere where the young people feel safe enough to interact with each other in a way they may not feel comfortable enough to do in other settings. Infuse provides the opportunity for young people to be listened to and build supportive relationships with positive role models, with many of the young people often confiding in us.

Aim 1

To provide a safe, fun place for young people to hang out and be positively supported

Activities

» Provide a variety of activities and games for attendees to enjoy either with their friends or with the Infuse team » Helping the Infuse team in the kitchen, preparing food and drink » Deliver specific events and workshops to help raise the young people's aspirations and give them a great time » Provide volunteering opportunities for those who are NEET or those who wish to gain some experience and skills.

What success will look like

Attendance is recorded along with session debriefs detailing supportive conversations had with attendees and the general vibe of the sessions.

Impact

It is hoped that by engaging in our youth cafe, young people will be detered away from engaging in anti-social behaviour therefore making our community a safer place to be. We hope to see an increase in confidence, self-esteem and self-worth among young people enabling them to feel more positive about their lives and future prospects.

Risk

The main risk is not having the funding to pay for the staff. We regularly complete a number of funding applications and to date have been successful in gaining funding to continue to deliver and develop Infuse. We will continue to do so.

Other influences may include low attendace. We try to combat this happening through our promotional strategy of sending out fliers and contacting schools. We continut to build relationships with schools and are now concentrating efforts on the year 6 cohort.

Reporting

Regular newsletters will be sent to donors and more detailed information can be obtained on request

Location

Infuse is based in St Marks Church which is located 5 minutes away from Clapham Junction Station and near to several bus routes and local schools. Despite Wandsworth being relatively wealthy overall, there are huge pockets of poverty and deprivation including in Roehampton, Battersea and Tooting. Some young people in these areas have been excluded from school, have offended or are at risk of offending. Several are from low-income or single parent families whcih can lead to severe challenges.

Beneficiaries

Why Us?

The FST team is a strong, close, multi-skilled team, who possess a real passion for positively impacting young people.

Throughout our existence we have delivered a youth club on a local Housing Estate, a conflict resolution project in partnership with Wandsworth Mediation Service, an Olympic Holiday Project, tutoring and have delivered school assemblies and assisted in lessons. FST to date has worked with over 850 children and young people.